Converting Lapsed FAA PPL To EASA PPL
 

I have a chap who gained a FAA PPL four and half years ago. He's not flown since, and therefore his licence has lapsed. He has a total time of something like sixty hours.
Now back in the days of JAR and LASORS I would know what to do with him. Training as required, and pass the written exams & Skills Test. I've had a good look through CAP 804, and I can't find what I need to do with a lapsed licence. If it hadn't lapsed then it would appear that he would still have a problem because Section 4 Part Q talks about needing 100 hours total time. ???
I guess that an NPPL may well be the well forward with a view to then converting to either a LAPL or PPL.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

FAA certificates are valid for life. The simplest way is to do training as required, then a FAA Flight Review to validate his FAA Certificate. If you're local drop me a PM if you need me to do a FAA Flight Review. That'll keep him flying to 08th April 2014. After that a validation is required to fly EASA aircraft.

Otherwise it's conversion in accordance with CAP 804, Section 4, Part Q, Subpart 2, Page 3:

If he hasn't got the 100 hours then he must comply with the Part-FCL requirements in full. However, Article 8 of the Aircrew Regulation states that the hours requirement for ground and flight training is waived if he holds an ICAO licence. (CAP 804, Section 4, Part Q, Subpart 2 Page 1). So it's the same as under JAR-FCL - training as required then written exams and a skill test.

ifitaint...

Shouldn't a flight review allow him to fly until 30 April 2015? (24 calendar months)

Not without a formal validation by the CAA. Under EASA, non-commercial ICAO licences must be validated in order to fly in Europe after 8 April 2104. The CAA may validate the licence for one year, but no extensions thereafter.

Thanks for that.
Goodness knows why they've decided to drag in the 100 hour requirement. So it's training as required, all seven written exams, and then the flight test. This certainly makes sense.

Ah, I see what you are saying, you were referring to the automatic validation in the UK.

Not quite. What Article 8 actually says is that the credit given shall be determined by the Member State to which the pilot applies on the basis of a recommendation from an ATO. Rather than just training as required, the ATO is required to recommend a course of training to the CAA, which will then decide whether to approve it.

Goodness. I guess the way forward could be to get the chap to write to the CAA. This could save embarrassment further down the line.

I find the EASA FCL conversion minima wording anything from vague through idiotic.
School would have vested interest to sell more training/time.
CAA staff may not be aware of proficiency vs what they used to allow in the past and now think as 'reasonable'. Even if they're not pilot themselves, whoever would be the one to decide. Presume in FCL dept.

I actually sent off my first proposed syllabus today - the email the lady at the CAA told me to use was :

[email protected]

Haven't heard anything back yet - does anyone else have anything different?

Please don't tell me that I need to write off to the CAA with a proposed training program. If so then I have a horrible feeling that the program will be being looked at by some office worker with no experience of flight training. I've been teaching full-time (PPL/CPL/IR) for over twenty years. If I can't be trusted to make sure that a person has sufficient training to be a safe and competent pilot then I should probably give up and get a job doing something else.
From the outside the CAA appear to have completely lost the plot. The new time scale for taking PPL written exams is ludicrous, and having to ask permission to conduct individual flight tests appears to be bonkers. What in the world is going on? Will we still be able to work in a years time, or will we have all been crushed in a mountain of paperwork?

I've written to the above address to see what they say. I feel a sense of humour failure coming on. :ugh:

Did you get a reply?

I've called several times and no one had a clue until about the 3rd call when someone did actually know what I was talking about.

No reply. I'm really not bothered as I'm quite happy doing my own thing. I've just about given up with the CAA.

I've been told by somebody who regularly deals with the CAA that I shouldn't expect a reply for six weeks.

I've forwarded my original email to this address.... [email protected]

Don't hold your breath...
 

I asked a question back in mid March and am still awaiting a response. I'm no longer waiting really, as I just got on with it and had the problem resolved in a different manner.

I have had a reply from the CAA. They tell me that I can't convert a FAA licence that isn't current. I'm told that my chap can continue his training once he's renewed his FAA licence.

I think that ifitaintboeing tried to tell me this right at the beginning of this thread.

Crap - I actually knew that answer as it has to be current for the IR conversion - sorry.

There's quite a few FAA CFIs in Denmark - and there's the odd one or two in the UK.

I've found one who's fairly local, although I'll also need to check to see where "ifitaintboeing" is based.
I should really have known the answer.